We analyzed 100 academic library websites. To select the libraries, we used the U. S. News & World Report‘s Best Colleges National University Rankings. For those 100 prominent universities, we found the website of the main library and looked at its homepage navigation, organization, terminology, and search tools.
We looked at trends in these areas:
- Navigation menu items to understand terminology and site organization.
- Discovery and search tool tabs.
- Headings for sections of most-used links.
- Headings for News carousels and links.
Navigation Menus
Library website navigation menus generally appear across the top of the site below the header. A few appear along one side or another, with menus under the main search area very rare. Navigation menus fall generally into three kinds:
- Simple – Menu items are plain links to landing pages or services.
- Dropdown – Menu items trigger a basic dropdown menu of links by hovering or clicking.
- Megamenu – Menu items trigger an extensive menu of text and links by hovering or clicking.
Below are the trends and main groups of menu items.
Services / Using the Library
Some form of “Services” or “Using the Library” appeared on 84% of website menus.
- Services (60)
- Using the Library (12)
- Library Services (3)
- Help and (&) Services (2)
- Collections & Services (1)
- Faculty Services (1)
- Locations and Services (1)
- Services and Events (1)
- Services & Help (1)
- Services & Tools (1)
- Spaces & Services (1)
About
Some form of “About” appeared on 83% of website menus.
- About (56)
- About Us (16)
- About the Library / Libraries (10)
- About [Name] Libraries (1)
Research
Some form of “Research” appeared on 69% of website menus.
- Research (29)
- Research Support (10)
- Research Help (& Support) (10)
- Research Tools (5)
- Research & Teaching (Support) (3)
- Research & Instruction (2)
- Research & (and) Learning (2)
- Research & Teaching (2)
- Start Your Research (2)
- More Research Tools (1)
- Research & Collections (1)
- Research Guides (1)
- Research links box (1)
Libraries / Locations / Hours
Some form of “libraries” or “locations” and/or “Hours” appeared on 57% of website menus.
- Libraries (14)
- Libraries & (and) Collections (9)
- Hours (7)
- Libraries & (and) Hours (7)
- Locations (5)
- Campus Libraries (2)
- Hours & Locations (2)
- Libraries & Departments (2)
- Libraries & Spaces (2)
- Hours for Week (1)
- Libraries & Archives (1)
- Locations & Collections (1)
- Locations & Hours (1)
- Locations and Services (1)
- Other Libraries (1)
- Select a Library (1)
Help
Some form of “Help” appeared on 40% of website menus.
- Help (13)
- Research Help (& Support) (10)
- Get Help (9)
- Help and (&) Services (2)
- Help & Support (2)
- Finding Help (1)
- Help & Guides (1)
- Help & Info (1)
- Services & Help (1)
Search / Find
Some form of “Search” or “Find” appeared on 34% of website menus.
- Find (13)
- Search & Find (6)
- Search (4)
- Find, Borrow, Request (2)
- Find Materials (2)
- Search Tools (2)
- Find & Cite (1)
- Search Collections (1)
- Search Library (1)
- Search Library Resources (1)
- Search This Website (1)
Collections
Some form of “Collections” appeared on 33% of website menus.
- Collections (12)
- Libraries & (and) Collections (9)
- Special Collections (4)
- Archives & Special Collections (1)
- Collections & Archives (1)
- Collections & Exhibits (1)
- Collections & Services (1)
- Collections and Projects (1)
- Databases & Collections (1)
- Locations & Collections (1)
- Research & Collections (1)
Ask
Some form of “Ask” appeared on 15% of website menus.
- Ask Us (7)
- Ask a Librarian (6)
- Ask (1)
- Ask the Library (1)
News / Events
Some form of “News” or “Events” appeared on 12% of website menus.
- News & (and) Events (8)
- News (3)
- Events (1)
Give
Some form of “Give”, “Donate”, or “Support” appeared on 11% of website menus.
- Give (4)
- Giving (3)
- Support the Library (2)
- Donate (1)
- Give to the Library (1)
Other
Other terms appearing in navigation menus in descending order of frequency.
- Account / My Account / My Library Account (11)
- Resources / Resources for: / Additional Resources / Course Resources (10)
- Spaces / Libraries & Spaces / Library Spaces / Places & Spaces / Study Spaces / etc. (10)
- Contact / Contact Us (9)
- Borrow / Borrow & Request / Find, Borrow, Request (7)
- Archives / Archives & Special Collections / Collections & Archives / Libraries & Archives / etc. (6)
- Exhibits / Collections & Exhibits / Events & Exhibits / Exhibits & Programs / Exhibitions (6)
- Departments / Libraries & Departments / Library Departments (5)
- Technology / Computers / Computers & Technology / Computer availability (5)
- Visit (4)
- Faculty Services / Faculty & Staff (3)
- Materials / Library Materials / Materials by Type (3)
- People (3)
- Quick Links / Quicklinks (3)
- Alumni / Alumni & Friends (2)
- Articles / Articles and Databases (2)
- Books / Books & Journals (2)
- Catalog (2)
- My Library / MyLibrary (2)
- Students (2)
- Subjects / Subject Guides (2)
- Visitors / Visitor Information (2)
- A-Z Library Website Index (1)
- Architecture (1)
- At the Library (1)
- Blogs (1)
- Building Information (1)
- CD / DVDs (1)
- Citation / Copyright (1)
- Classes/Tutorials (1)
- Course Support (1)
- Data & Publishing (1)
- Equipment (1)
- Facilities (1)
- Falcon Cam (1)
- FAQ (1)
- Floor Maps (1)
- General Info (1)
- Get (1)
- Governance (1)
- How do I… (1)
- I am a… (1)
- Info for… (1)
- InfoGuides (1)
- Information & Policies (1)
- Library A-Z (1)
- Library Delivery (1)
- Library Tutorial (1)
- Login (1)
- Mget It [Citation Linker] (1)
- More (1)
- Places (1)
- Projects (1)
- Quick Facts (1)
- Reserve group study room (1)
- Social Media (1)
- Support & Guides (1)
- Teaching & Learning (1)
- Workshops & Events (1)
Discovery and Search Tool Tabs
Below are the trends and main groups.
Search Tabs
Most (57%) library website homepages feature a tabbed searchbox. Of those 57 tabbed searchboxes, 46 (81%) had tabs along the top while 9 (16%) had tabs on the side. Two websites used expanding sections. One used a carousel of icons to select the search type.
Databases
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 34 (60%) searched databases, sometimes in combination with others.
- Databases (27)
- Articles & Databases (4)
- Articles, Journals & Databases (1)
- Databases & Journals (1)
- Find a Database (1)
Journals
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 32 (56%) searched journals, sometimes with additional formats.
- Journals (12)
- E-Journals / eJournals (11)
- E-Journals by Title / E-Journal Titles (2)
- Journal Titles (2)
- Articles, Journals & Databases (1)
- Databases & Journals (1)
- Journal List (1)
- Journals + articles (1)
- Search eJournals and eBooks (1)
Articles
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 28 (49%) searched articles, sometimes with additional formats.
- Articles (13)
- Articles & More (5)
- Articles & Databases (4)
- Articles & Books (1)
- Articles, Journals & Databases (1)
- ArticlesPlus (1)
- Books, Articles and More (1)
- Journals + articles (1)
- Library Catalog + Articles (1)
Books
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 27 (47%) searched books, sometimes with additional formats.
- Books & (and) More (10)
- Books & (+) Media (8)
- Books (4)
- Articles & Books (1)
- Books+ (1)
- Books, Articles and More (1)
- Ebooks (1)
- Search eJournals and eBooks (1)
Catalog
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 25 (44%) searched the catalog, sometimes with additional services.
- Catalog / Catalogs / [Branding Name] (17)
- Library Catalog (5)
- Catalog Plus (1)
- Library Catalog + Articles (1)
- Old Catalog (1)
Website
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 21 (37%) searched the library’s website.
- Site Search (6)
- Website (6)
- Library Website (4)
- Our Website (2)
- Website Search (2)
- This Website (1)
Guides
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 18 (32%) searched guides.
- Research Guides / Research guides (11)
- Guides (5)
- How to… [Research Guides] (1)
- Subject + Course Guides (1)
Course Reserves
Of the 57 sites with tabs, 14 (30%) course reserves.
- Course Reserves (11)
- Reserves / Reserve (3)
Other Search Tabs
Other terms appearing in navigation menus in order of frequency.
- Media / Media Collections (2)
- Special Collections (2)
- Audio/Video (1)
- Get Materials (1)
- Google Scholar (1)
- Help [Frequently Asked Questions] (1)
- Library FAQs (1)
- More… [Website] (1)
- Music Collections (1)
- Quick E-Lookup (1)
- Reference [Credo Reference] (1)
- Search Library Collections (1)
No Tabs
Many libraries have chosen the simple one searchbox for all resources, 43% of library website homepages contained a single searchbox with no tabs.
Of those 43 searchboxes, 5 (12%) had a dropdown menu next to the searchbox to select specific collections or media types. Several were standard Primo external searchboxes.
Other searchboxes with no tabs included buttons or links below to select specific collections or media types.
Headings for Links
For websites that have a single section for a collection of links, below are the headings by frequency.
Many sites had specific link sections for Research, Services, or Resources. These were not included.
- Quick Links (22)
- Quicklinks (2)
- Faculty Quicklinks (1)
- Popular Resources (1)
- Recommended Links (1)
- Resources (1)
- Use the Library (1)
- Useful Links (1)
Headings for News
Most library websites display news, events, and exhibitions, sometimes displayed under separate headings and sometimes together. Sometimes when using news carousels, the section was untitled.
- News & (and) Events (10)
- Library News (8)
- Features / Featured News / News & Features (6)
- Spotlight / In the Spotlight (6)
- News & (and) Announcements (4)
- Library News & (and) Events (2)
- News, Events & Exhibits (2)
- Recent / Recent News (2)
- What’s Happening (2)
- Latest News and Events (1)
- Library News & Updates (1)
Websites Analyzed
See our previous post Library Websites for the Top 100 Universities for the list of 100 academic library websites (with links) used for this analysis.